


Beastly night

by ChibiPhantomKitsune



Category: Original Work
Genre: Christmas, Horror, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-19 23:51:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9466184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiPhantomKitsune/pseuds/ChibiPhantomKitsune
Summary: Not many people know, but Santa also works in strange countries. In one of these trips, the night does not go as expected and an strange creature appears. A creature that should be well avoided for the ones that know it.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thorinlock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thorinlock/gifts).



> Hi! I'm here under the name of Phantom Kitsune. My mother language is Portuguese, and as you can see in my profile I have several tales and fanfiction on Portugues. I am begining to write on English, and I'd like to improve it! Therefore, constructive criticism is totally welcoming. From plot writing, till grammar.
> 
>  
> 
> Also, I wrote this tale with help from thorinlock, who I'd like to thanks for the hard work with me. I Miss you!

Christmastime in this land was not ornamented with the white, dusty magic of snow. Instead, a dry, beige powder covers the landscape. However, Santa did not feel the sweltering heat of the rigorous weather tonight because after years of visiting this land, he learned to enchant his clothes so that he wouldn’t melt in his own sweat. He still wears the same red clothes with the coat, hood, and boots. This way, the kids would still recognize him as Santa Claus. After all, if kids didn’t believe on him, why would he be there? In fact, this was the only reason he bothered to enchant his clothes.

He left the sled draping the sack of gifts over his back, landing on the dirt floor. He was at the countryside, therefore there was no one there to see him. This meant the Santa could park his reindeer in the rear of the houses. In that strange, hot country, there was no need for chimneys. The first time that Santa came here, he ended up in a funny situation, and as such, he needed to think of other ways to enter the houses. It is what people do to surpass challenges, right? They adapt.

He approached a house and with his right hand signed a spell which enabled him to pass through the window, as if it was just an illusion. When he entered the house, he saw a small plastic tree in the main room, surrounded by just a few boxes of gifts. He cast a spell that would put the neighborhood into a deep sleep. Then, he took two new gifts out of his bag and put them at the base of the tree. Outside, the bells on his reindeers suddenly sounded out loud and arrhythmic, followed by the sound of their hoofs trampling on the ground. The old man frowned. His reindeers were well trained—they would never make loud sounds like that to attract unnecessary attention!

In a hurry he left the house and saw the animals straining against their chains, trying to run away.

“Easy, boy,” he said, approaching Rudolph. He thought if he could calm the alpha, the others would follow him.

Then he saw it. It was small and seemed spiky at first sight, but with more attention Santa could see it was just fur. Stark, white eyes stared back at him, and with fangs bared it hissed at Santa. Good Santa took a step back, his eyes widening in fear as he suddenly understood the reason of his animals’ agitation. Santa has seen a variety of strange animals throughout his travels, each country having their own, but this was no animal. Santa also knew that each country had their own monsters.

Before he could react, the creature jumped on him. He shielded his face with his arm and growled when the monster bit him, its fangs penetrating the old man’s flesh. With a strength that most would not expect of him, Santa pulled the creature free of his arm, a scream of pain getting caught in his throat as he tossed the monster aside. The small creature looked back at him, strips of fabric and flesh hanging from its jaw. It quickly gave him his back, disappearing into the horizon.

Santa hugged his arm, curving over himself in pain. He realized that he would not finish delivering the presents in time, not with such wounds. A lacerating pain hit him after that thought, and his eyes rolled back in his head as he body crumpled completely.

The people of the neighborhood did not wake during the scuffle, and Santa could be proud of his sleeping spell in that sense. The reindeers were trying to reach the unconscious man, worried about their owner and friend. They would be the only ones to witness the ensuing transformation.

It had been so long since that disease last attacked him.

First his back begins to distort, shaping in a hump. His skin was next, getting covered by a brown furry that grew in his whole body. His white hair grew in record time, giving him a savage air. Lastly, a tail and horns appeared.

His eyes opened, their new green color shining under the moonlight. He was not Santa anymore. The North American people would call him Krampus.

The creature took a deep breath of the dry air and looked at his hurt arm. The wound had healed. The fur was impregnated with blood, but there was not even a scar. He stood up. A gruesome laughter left his mouth and the reindeers retreated, shrinking against the sled, looking for a place to hide. The creature look around, seeing the frightened animals, but it quickly ignored them when he found the bag left in the ground. He took it, throwing all the gifts to the floor. One of his hands with long nails looked in the pockets of the ripped off coat he was still wearing until they found a piece of paper.

He took it and the mean eyes passed through the names, not of the good kids list, but of the bad ones. His lips curved into a pleasured smile when he realized the number of names in that list.

He put the paper back in his pocket and, carrying the empty bag in his hand, approached the sled. The reindeers shrank violently but did not dare to attack the man who usually were a good friend of them. Soon as Krampus pulled their reins, the animals stopped, knowing it would be useless trying to escape. The monster flew the sled over the ceilings of houses around the neighborhood until he found his target.

He landed again in the rear and with the same gesture of his hand, he went through the window until the kid’s bedroom. The little boy was asleep. In the darkness, it was difficult to see his brown skin or his dark hair, but the monster did not care. He was sure that one was his victim. The creature approached the bed with careful steps until he stood over the kid. Something happened then. Maybe it was the fact that he was too close to the boy, or his suddenly stinky breath; could even be the fact that the monster was not Santa anymore. Krampus would never know the reason, but something broke Santa’s spell and suddenly the kid awoke. His eyes getting bigger and bigger while he stares at the monster by the side of his bed. The boy opened his mouth ready to scream, but the monster was faster. The kid tasted the dusty over the furry of Krampus’ hand, feeling it pressure his mouth. The boy couldn’t even breath. He shook his arms, struggling to break free and hit a lamp that fell with a crack on the floor. Krampus realized he needed to be faster.

The kid’s parents opened the door of the room, attracted by all the noise. The dad, in the front, turned on the light. There was no more monster, or boy, only a broken lamp on the floor of an empty room. The man stood there paralyzed with the scene blocking the vision of the woman. She didn’t take long to push her husband. A scream filled the night when she realized her kid was missing.

—Mathew!

The parents’ footsteps echoed through the house as they went looking for their son, opening doors of every room in hope to find the kid. They didn’t pay attention, but somewhere outside it was possible to hear bells.

In Santa’s sled the reindeers were running as fast as they could to avoid the whip that hit at them every 5 seconds. The creature wearing the rag of Santa’s clothes laughing every time the whip touched the animals. In their hearts, the reindeers knew they shouldn’t obey that monster, but they had no option.

 

* * *

 

The sled stopped near a river. A whining cry was coming from the bag, while something inside it was struggling to go out. Krampus stepped off the sled, dragging the bag with him through the ground and throwing it at the river. He watched the sac being drowned by the water.

In the river, the kid struggled even harder when he felt the water. He couldn’t see in that dark place and the only thing he knew was that he was not able to swim. As his efforts seemed useless, his heart bet faster. He tried to punch and kick harder. With the water on his neck, he tried to bite the bag to tear it apart.  
“Mommy!”, he called in a last hope feeling his tears mixing with the water of the river.

The water filled the bag completely, blocking the air from his nose and his mouth. Without any warning, the bag opened over his head and more than desperate the kid tried to reach that hole. “Swim to the light”, said his dad, and for his luck the light of the moon was touching the river that night. He tried to reach that, and when he finally got it, he heard:

“Boo!”, the stinky breath was back and when Matthew opened his eyes, still confused, he saw the furry and frightening creature with its fangs baring in the mouth. Krampus laughed and with the two hands he pushed the kid back down the water.

It took just a while to the boy stop moving. It was not long after that the bells of the reindeers jingled again through the night. That night several kids disappeared from their houses. No signal of break-in were found.

* * *

 

At dawn, Santa’s sled finally got to the North Pole. It seemed nobody was riding it. The reindeers walked slowly and numb through the air until finally they stepped on the snow. Their fur was covered in blood and two or three of them seemed able to fall unconscious any moment soon.

In the porch of the small house, Ms. Claus was waiting for her husband, worried with the lack of news. She saw the sled coming from far away and rushed through it.

“Nicholas!”, she screamed, approaching the vehicle, and noticing the wounds of the animals.

She was only able to see Santa when she stopped by the side of the sled. The fat old man was unconscious on the floor of the vehicle, his clothes teared apart and his body filthy with dried blood. The bag by his side was completely wet. Ms. Claus covered her mouth with her hands as soon as she realized what was happening there.

“Oh God, not again”, she whispered, unable to put her eyes off the scene.


End file.
